From the I-10 westbound, less than 20 miles from Phoenix, I began to notice obvious terrain features, like the massive graphic billboards promoting a new upstart and highway traffic signs with current GPS coordinates and digital mileage countdown displays. I was told that as I neared the Offroad Park, I wouldn’t miss the mammoth Firebird International Raceway on my left, the only undeniable element of my destination.
The next driveway is the indisputable entrance to offroad enchantment. The xeriscaped front gate is accentuated by two of Hummer’s original cRUNKMETAL prototypes. The endless entrance drive is beset on both sides by plumes of desert dust as swarms of mechanical bees buzz by. From what I can see, Warren has designed a course encompassing the entire eightee acres of Indian land with underpasses and overpasses intersecting the main drive.
I am greeted at the facilities entrance by Warren’s personal secretary Alex. She informs me that the Mr. Hummer is on fire and he will be with us shortly.
Alex offers a tour of the facilities while I’m waiting. I oblige and we depart on our quest. We saddle up in a Lone Star Racing Yamaha Rhino. cRUNKMETAL oFFROD mOTORPARKS is an offroad adventure and tours company. The park voraciously masticates voraciously masticates voraciously masticates the eightee acres of straight-aways, hills, banks, hairpin curves, jumps and lots and lots of cRUNKMETAL mini-monsters to race around in. There are three courses catering to different skill levels and genre of offroad preference. Depending on your mood, you can rockcrawl, compete against other riders, choose from a number of scenic tour destinations throughout Arizona, or drool.
Alex phone explodes. its Warren. We head back to the main office to meet with Warren.
AUFROD & TRACT: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview Warren.
Warren Hummer: Forty six and two. how you do?
AUFROD & TRACT: Alex just gave me a brief tour of the place. You’ve got quite a killer production goin’ on here. I understand you designed it yourself.
Warren Hummer: yep.
AUFROD & TRACT: ...
AUFROD & TRACT: What’s the deal with your vehicles?
Warren Hummer: I talked with a handful of local fabricators about producing a run of 30 minis. They are all similar in construction; roll cage, four-cylinder Honda engines, 35” mudders, solid axle three-link suspension, you know, the usual stomper-style…catering to usability and comfort in a cage designed to traverse big rocks. and people coming to the park don’t miss the driveway.
AUFROD & TRACT: So you think the prototypes are what drive the business in?
Warren Hummer: At the turn of the century, people woke up or got bitchslapped. In the 60s, the hippies had viable points, but they just smelled, and no one wanted to hang around long enough to listen to what they had to say. It’s the same song, but today’s environmentalists smell better. People are starting to listen. I picked up on the alternative fuel concept about five years ago. The government was offering incentives for businesses using ‘green’ fuels, and with a little research, I found an inexpensive way to generate an alternative both planet-friendly and less expensive than pump gas. I think the best part about the cRUNKMETAL experience are the prototypes.
AUFROD & TRACT: Alternative fuel (p)articles have been popping up all over the place. This year’s democratic majority are pushing for ‘greener’ solutions. What’s the big deal really?
Warren Hummer: painful violent decay with possible side effects. The DOE (Department of Energy) projects a 34% increase in the consumption of fossil fuels by 2030. Coal, gasoline and diesel fuel when burned release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, hypothetically trapping heat, contributing to global warming. There is much speculation on the ‘greenhouse gas’ theory, but say it is true. The icebergs at our poles start melting. The abundance of water slowly floods our oceans drowning tens of thousands of coastal communities. With warmer waters, the hurricane season lengthens, bringing more lethal storms. Our communities have to relocate and our economy suffers. Hypothetically speaking, it’s a monolithic domino effect.
AUFROD & TRACT: What kind of alternative fuels are you using at the park?
Warren Hummer: Several actually. Some of our prototypes run efficiently on chicken and others with a combination of used vegetable oil and diesel for cold starts. We get our fuel from local fast food restaurants. I acquired a kit for under a thousand dollars that filters the cooking oil before entering a tank in the undercarriage. Lines from the engine coolant system heat the oil before it’s pumped into the engine.
AUFROD & TRACT: You get your fuel from McDonalds?!
Warren Hummer: Biodiesel sounds better – same thing. We remove the glycerin and other contaminants in the used fry oil, rendered chicken fat, etc. by a process called transesterification. Modern diesel powerplants can run on 100% biodiesel. It burns cleaner with up to 75% reduced CO emissions compared to petrodiesel.
AUFROD & TRACT: Well why can’t we find biodiesel at the corner gas station?
Warren Hummer: In cold temperatures, a mix of B30 or B100 will gel and form waxy solids without special additives or fuel warmers. Also, currently only a limited network produces the biofuel. Willy Nelson is probably the biggest name in the industry. He markets a brand of B20 to long haul truckers in CA, TX, the south and the Midwest.
AUFROD & TRACT: What about your mini-monsters?
Warren Hummer: There are two fuels for the minis. We’ve got the ‘alcohol burners’ and the ‘pressure cookers’. The ‘alcohol burners’ run on proprietary ethanol and the ‘pressure cookers’ run on compressed natural gas. They both have their own benefits.
AUFROD & TRACT: Your mini monsters run on moonshine?
Warren Hummer: Basically, yes. Ethanol is ethyl alcohol…or grain alcohol. The process is similar to making moonshine using corn or other base feedstock. Ethanol is an excellent, clean-burning fuel providing more horsepower (there’s a bit of a pause, then a snicker). It has a higher octane rating than gasoline and burns cooler. With a higher compression ratio our vehicles have a higher thermodynamic efficiency. Basically, they pull better wheelies…Also, the carbon dioxide that the engine produces is hypothetically equal to the atmospheric carbon dioxide the cornstalks captured during growth.
AUFROD & TRACT: Ethanol sounds familiar.
Warren Hummer: Ethanol is currently found blended with gasoline at pumps across the country. It has a couple of negatives. Alcohol is corrosive. All of our fuel components are corrosion-resistant. cRUNKMETAL Offroad uses plastic and stainless steel substitutes for the fuel cells, pumps, hoses and fuel injection hardware. The initial investment was more expensive, but in the long-run we save on maintenance costs and efficiently run an ecofriendly business. Additionally, it takes about a gallon and a half of ethanol to equal a gallon of gas, mileage wise, so we go through more volume. To counter this cost, we have recently partnered with an undisclosed entity to begin production of E85, an ethanol/gasoline mixture capable of running FFVs or Flex Fuel Vehicles. The EPA lists 34 of these models capable of running on any mixture of ethanol and gasoline.
AUFROD & TRACT: Why is our nation so dependent on fossil fuel imports if we can run our vehicles on corn we can grow here?
Warren Hummer: An acre of corn produces roughly 300 gallons of ethanol. How long would that last you? Six weeks? In order to replace the 200 billion gallons of fossil fuels used annually, American farmers would need to dedicate over 75% of the nation’s farmland to growing our replacement fuel. Our current infrastructure revolves around petroleum imports not food imports. Our economy would need major renovations most people are unwilling to participate in. Consider that the entire distribution network for current fuel consumption includes tankers, tanks, pumps, etc. This entire network would need a very expensive facelift in order to run efficiently. Who pays for this? You will, every time you pay at the pump.
AUFROD & TRACT: What about your pressure cookers? Is that in reference to the insane heat here in Arizona?
Warren Hummer: They run on CNG or compressed natural gas. The minis are fitted with 3000 psi tanks that carry the 130 octane rated processed methane. Like the alcohol burners, our CNG machines have an optimized thermodynamic efficiency through a higher compression ratio. They produce about 90% less carbon oxide, 60% less nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide is reduced by 30 to 40 percent also. The exhaust fumes are cleaner than the air in some high pollution areas. By using CNG, cRUNKMETAL Offroad is again an ecofriendly choice, but like petroleum, it is nonrenewable.
So, what is next for the ecofriendly offroad mastermind Warren Hummer? Hydrogen powered ATVs? Electric supercar hybrids? Ironically, he’s been taking his offroad prowess to silicon. Warren’s latest project incorporates a different perspective but completely ecofriendly still. We’ll catch up with him for the latest in simulation technology with his next-gen console release coming to a home theatre near you when Warren conquers the $71 billion game industry.